Weather you like museums or not, I believe you will enjoy this one.
Musée des Arts Forains (fairground art museum) is a private museum located in an old wine warehouse, Les Pavillons de Bercy. It all started when Jean Paul Favand, an actor and antique dealer, began collecting objects from fairgrounds and the entertainment world. For 40 years now, Jean Paul has been gathering and restoring his curiosities. All those objects boast undeniable aesthetic and cultural qualities, with the luxurious carvings and woodwork. The museum is only open upon reservation at some specific time of the week, beside being a museum, the venue can also be rent for special events.
Have you seen the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris? You might remember there was a special scene with the bike carousel. The scene was shot in this museum. I will take you for a ride in the bike carousel too. Let’s go.
巴黎的嘉年华博物馆。虽然它叫做博物馆，但是人人可以参与其中，而非隔着玻璃窗看展品。所以不管你喜不喜欢博物馆，相信你都会爱上这里，只要有一颗童心。
这是一家私人博物馆，位于巴黎十四区的Bercy地区，曾是旧时的一个红酒仓库。法国演员，古董收藏家 Favand先生是一个古老嘉年华会的狂热爱好者。他收藏这些古董级的蜡像和旋转木马已有40余年。后来他建成了这个博物馆，把这些私人收藏完好的连接成一个个故事，展现在不同的展厅了，让这些属于一两个世纪前的精致艺术品，在今天继续向世人展现曾经的故事和意义。由于是私人博物馆，来这里参观必须要预约，也不是每天都开放。除了博物馆，这里也为有兴趣的人开放场馆租赁，以举办鸡尾酒会之类，想必价格不菲。
记得《午夜巴黎》这部电影吗，有一个派队的场景里有个自行车的旋转木马，就是在这里拍摄的。今天我也会带你们一起去坐一坐这个神奇的旋转木马。
There’re three parts in the huge pavilion: The Theater of Marvels, The Venetian Rooms and The fairground art museum, all of which filled with a huge private collection of carnival attractions from yesteryear – rides, midway games, animatronics… Each room is cleverly lighted and theatrically displayed. The buildings are connected by a cobbled street planted with century old chestnut trees. They were meant to keep the wine cold as these building were parts of a former wine market which covered the entire neighborhood of Bercy. Many interesting decorations can be found here between the trees.
嘉年华会博物馆挺大，由三部分组成：分别是剧场，威尼斯厅，还有博物馆。三个场馆都摆满了曾经的嘉年华的游艺项目，除了欣赏精美的蜡像，形态各异的木马造型，我也听了很多美妙的音乐，玩了有意思的游戏，在各种旋转木马上面转到晕眩……两个展厅和博物馆之间被一个小广场连接。这里住满了古老的栗子树，因为曾经Bercy是巴黎失去很有名的红酒市场，大片的树荫便于红酒的冷藏。在这个小广场我也发现了很多有意思的装饰。Favand先生真是很用心。
That rabbit from Alice in wonderland. I can already feel it’s a curious place just by wandering in the garden, before getting into any of the salons.
这不是爱丽丝梦游仙境的兔子吗？真是可爱，光在这里找找童话的元素，还没进去任何展厅，我已经发觉到这个地方的魅力了。
The first part I visit was The Theater of Marvels. Here natural and man-made curiosities take us on a journey into imagination. When getting into the pavilion, everyone was “WOW!”. I felt as entering a dreamland full of wonders, the atmosphere was really special. It contains a cabinet of curiosities and a huge ballroom.
首先参观的是这个剧场主题的展厅。踏进去的一瞬间，所有人都直接“WOW”，一眼望去已经是充满了神秘色彩，自然和人造的千奇百怪的藏品，好像进入了一个梦幻的童话世界。这个场馆有种神奇又特别的气氛，它分为两个部分，一个是藏有各种稀奇的玩意的展厅，和一个舞厅。
This flying elephant is an object created by Jean Paul Favand himself. It reminds me of the movie Around the World in 80 Days. It’s composed of a 19th century carousel top carrying a merry-go-round elephant with on its back a 1800’s boîte à rêver.
最吸引眼球的当属这个飞行的大象。Favand先生自己设计了这个物件。它让我联想到电影《八十天环游世界》某个场景。这个神奇的飞行大象的顶部是个19世纪的旋转木马顶部，连接这一个背着“梦想盒子”的大象。非常充满想象力的设计。
In this cabinet of curiosities, there’s Esmeralda patroness dancing in the middle of the room, a tree capable of growing legs, a pig-shaped carousel and lots of curios.
展厅里面有《舞吧，我的爱斯玛拉达》里面的舞者，能够长出腿的树，褚形状的木马…… 完全出乎想象。
The ballroom of The Theater of Marvels is surrounded by a unicorn and waxwork silhouette. It has an Art Deco box with a Mortier Organ from 1932 that can mimic 12 musicians. Are you ready to dance?
硕大的舞厅我也非常喜欢，舞厅一旁是独角兽和钢琴。舞厅中间有一个来自1932年的精致装饰风艺术的管风琴，可以模拟出12位音乐家的演唱。准备好了，跳舞吧。
I enjoyed playing The Palio di Sienna game based on a folkloric horse race taking place twice per year in Sienna, Italy. The rule is of course trying to get to the first place, but never the second place. Because in Sienna’s tradition, if you got the second place, it’s your turn to buy drinks for the whole village. I was lucky because I got the fifth place, instead of second place. LOL.
在这个剧场展厅的一侧，还可以玩锡耶纳的赛马游戏。这游戏模拟了意大利锡耶纳一年两度的民俗赛马会。规则很中意，每个人都要争当第一，但是要小心不要当第二了，因为锡耶纳的传统是第二名必须要给全镇人买饮料。我也玩了，还好得了第五名，而不是第二名。
The Venetian rooms are homage to Venice and its carnival, through a historic decor. One part of the room is a super cool imaginary merry-go-round highlighting the traditional Venetian Gondolas and a bridge over the symbolic Venetian Grand Canal. The other room is a Venetian Opera. This was also my favorite part of the whole visit. I got a chance to hear part of the opera, surrounded by Colombine, Arlequin and even Casanova. It was a fun way for me to learn and discover this old Venetian tradition.
接下来带到了威尼斯展厅。这个展厅的灵感来自于水城威尼斯和威尼斯狂欢节。展厅不算大，氛围两部分，一部分很有特色的贡多拉水船形状的旋转木马，以及威尼斯的桥。另一部是模拟了意大利歌剧的小剧场。剧场顶部装饰了惟妙惟肖的意大利灵魂歌手蜡像，我虽然不久前去过威尼斯，但是没有抽空听歌剧，但是在这里听了一段，还是以这么有意思的方式，太酷了。
The last part of the visit was The Fairground museum. During the 19th century, the fair became popular in France, England, Germany and Belgium. It was a place to discover new inventions and to dream. The museum is inspired by the amazing decorations and objects from La Belle Epoque (between 1880’s and 1920’s). For someone growing up in Asia such as me, it was a wonderful way to feel European culture from its best ages.
最后，去看看博物馆。游乐场和嘉年华会的概念是在19世纪在西欧地区流行起来的。当属有钱有时间的人们去嘉年华会探索新的发明和做做白日梦。欧洲社会史把19世纪末和20世纪初的这段相对和平的时期成为“美好年代”，这个博物馆藏品的灵感都来自对于这个“美好年代”。对于我来说，这些东西真是美丽又新奇。欧洲现在也有嘉年华，但是就是的精美装饰慢慢被千篇一律的霓虹灯替代，看了这个博物馆，我真希望有时光机带我去那段“美好年代”。
This barrel organ was made in Belgium. It was like a Mp3 player from the Belle-Epoque. The music it plays is super loud and can be heard from miles away. It was used to attract and delight fun fair visitors.
这个巨型手摇风琴产于比利时。他就像是就是的mp3以及音响。我现场听了一下，真是震耳欲聋的响，曾经它用来吸引嘉年华会上的年轻人。想想过了一个多世纪依旧音量很大，当年一定效果不错。
I spotted many magical objects here and tried a few rides on the merry-go-round.
Have you ever seen a bicycle carousel? Maybe in Midnight in Paris? Woody Allen came here to film a party scene. Actually when pedal system was invented in 1860s, there were more bicycles on carousels than in the streets. This bicycle can go up to 40mph, much faster than a normal horse carousel. I had great fun riding the bicycle carousel.
I spent more than 2.5 hours in this super magical place and only wished it could be even longer. I highly recommend for an off the beaten path experience, especially if you are into old school carnival contraptions!
在博物馆里，我发现了很多新奇的游艺项目，又坐了好几次不同的旋转木马。
你们见过自行车旋转木马吗？可以在《午夜巴黎》电影里面？伍迪艾伦特地来这里拍摄这个场景。其实自行车旋转木马并非凭空捏造出来的。19世纪刚刚发明出脚踏车系统的时候，其实那时出现在旋转木马里面的自行车要比在大街上看到的多呢。有钱人去游乐场感受自行车的乐趣。自行车旋转木马其实比传统木制要快很多。我觉得特有意思。
不知道不觉我就在这个博物馆，或者更贴切说是游乐场，待了两个半小时，还是觉得不够长，没玩够的感觉。我很想把这个魔法地方推荐给所有要去想去巴黎的人，如果你还留有童心，不要错过这个地方。
Thanks for reading!
